Joey negotiates "peace treaty" with 'Pfeiffer' ?

Welcome back to 'Falcon's Rest', subscriber-family!
We're going to tie a small "bow" on the subject of 'Pfeiffer' for the time being, folks, however I wanted you to see the fantastic internal approach our good friend (and Senior assistant) Joey brings to the table when working with the Feathered.
Its a beautiful experience to watch his process, and even more informative to listen to his visualization method as he seeks to open the door to communication with 'Pfeiffer'.
We'll definitely keep you posted on this little fellow as events unfold - in the meantime, let's continue exploring the wider adventure of Falconry, and the craft of 'camera-work preparation of raptors' together.
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Thanks again everyone,
Jo
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Your guide is Journeyman Falconer Joanne Bentley, a practitioner with over 15 years experience in the handling and schooling of birds-of-prey, and her support-team of assistants including Joseph Norris, Andrew & Megan Lemon, Chris Wright, and Bruce Lane.
With light-hearted humour and a gentle, informational approach, Jo will guide you in understanding the techniques of “winning” one’s Feathered-companion - first in earning their willingness to work with us, then - in our case - to work for the eye of the camera.
Jo's desire is to inspire established and new participants, wildlife enthusiasts, birders, and the wider public. This passionate Journeyman Falconer seeks to inform and introduce humanity to the intangible “living human-heritage” (UNESCO 2010) to which every one of us may lay claim through the Art of Falconry.
Thank you for watching!
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[@noahcroy9435]

5:58...when he waved him on to the perch. Awesome moment. That bird is very smart...and stubborn. But he likes Joey and seems responsive to him. Very cool to see so much progress.

[@TheFalconLady]

Good afternooon Noah; Yes - the *_subtlety_* of such a simple form of "asking" is key to truly understanding what it is to be a Falconer - seeking "relationship" is what this Art is all about. Thank you for your feedback! :0) Jo

[@4englishlies875]

I am so happy to see that he is going to get a better life than what he had. Is joey going to be work with him more or are their others that are working with phifer? But it is good to see that someone is cracking the trust lock with her.

[@jantirpak7902]

Good evening, ladies, happy March 8. Have a great winter. It is spring in Central Europe. No snow and temperature during day around 10 ° C. Wild ducks, owls, wild pigeons and buteos are already flowing. Tonight the golden eagle took my first egg. And it should be second on Wednesdays. But on camera I don't see copulate male with female. Two years ago he pushed for her. He tried to step on the wing last year. And this year she is trying to climb the whole female, but still nothing. Maybe next year he will have a higher testosterone level. With Pfeifer you're making progress. The escape reaction still prevails, but it will disappear over time. With such an old falcon, it's a good practice. You are good professionals. I wish you a lot of falconry success.

[@TheFalconLady]

Good afternoon Ján; Wonderful to hear from you - do you think you could get donor semen from another male Golden, and AI her next egg??? Joey did an amazing job with 'Pfeiffer' while he was here. The challenge, with our "little old man", is he is resistive to "holding" the learning. His reflex is to default to the fear-based reactions, which makes communication with him an ongoing challenge. So glad you could stop in to visit today - Springtime is leaving hints of its impending arrival here too...getting a little weary from all the snow-clearing this season! (LOL) Best, Jo

[@jantirpak7902]

@@TheFalconLady lthough snow removal is very tiring and complicated. Yet the beauty of them is not in Christmas, but in snowy nature. I like every season (spring, summer, autumn, winter). All are beautiful. I contacted some golden eagles breeders about us, but unsuccessfully. I have to do the insemination within half an hour after laying the egg. Almost all breeders in Central Europe do insemination. I know about the natural couple that he's just with me. And that is why I would like to be able to do it successfully. Thank you for your support.

[@aquarionh2o132]

Great to see Joey in a video again, and always nice to see Pfeiffer. 😎👍

[@TheFalconLady]

Good morning my friend! Yes - Joey is blessed with natural skills when it comes to working with the Feathered. I've always admired the subtlety he brings to the interactions, but I've got even more appreciation for his approach now after watching this footage. Thanks for stopping in - see you again next Sunday. 😁 Jo

[@gregoryh4601]

Hi Falcon Team. Good to see Pfeiffer working with Joey. How are you doing on the Art Clip work for me do work on Tshirt? Joey where do you get that awesome jacket? Sad to see all that snow. Hope warm weather is coming. What with the mad man that sold Pheiffer to you. I Pfeiffer eating Good? Take care. Greg of Ohio

[@TheFalconLady]

Good afternoon Greg; Great to hear from you - I'm incredibly happy for the communication Joey and 'Pfeffer' were able to achieve too. :0) The snow-clearing has *definitely* been a challenge this winter...I'm able to see the 'big picture', and I know its only a good thing the snow-pack is as deep as it is in British Columbia this year. This said, I'll be glad to pack the snowblower away in a few weeks' time! The individual who committed fraud through his complete misrepresentation of 'Pfeiffer' will not enjoy the consequences which *will* be forthcoming, you may be completely assured of _that_. The jacket Joey is wearing was something we picked up for him as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago. There's a German-themed Christmas "festival" in Vancouver every December which features some incredibly gifted artisans. The jacket was obtained from some gentleman who've arranged a fair-trade arrangement with a collective in Peru who raise Alpacas, and who make Alpaca-wool clothing. :0) Thanks again Greg - hope you've been having a great weekend, Jo

[@CaptainViruk]

@@TheFalconLady Hey man The "jacket" I am wearing is a knitted hoody that was given to me as a Christmas gift a few years ago by none other than Jo and Brian. It is so warm, and I produce so much heat, that I couldn't actually wear a jacket over it comfortably. Wasn't cold enough :p I do not recall where they got it from but Jo might know... Good luck!

[@gregoryh4601]

@@CaptainViruk Thanks for info on jacket I will look for one in the States. Joey so glad Pfeiffer is letting you under his wings. Good Luck. And are you a journeyman in Falconry? Take Care and what town is Lady Falcon in. I don’t know much about BC. Thanks. Greg

[@gregoryh4601]

@@TheFalconLady your are a awesome Boss, take care

[@ronposuniak942]

Tid bit him to pick up, after a while you won't need to. Double leash through swivel ring so it isn't hanging loose. Sometime I distract him with my ungloved hand and situate jesses on the block top, then it"s easyier to slide up your glove up leash and jesses then under feet. You,ve come a long way . Your on the right track

[@ronposuniak942]

Maybe a couple grams heavy. Patience, don't let him train you. Time =bonding.

[@corygriffis2818]

Have you tried using a dog clicker? I met a master falconer a few months ago who told me they respond well to clicker training. Hopefully Pfeiffer will be more responsive after his keel bone injury heals completely.

[@TheFalconLady]

Good morning Cory; Thank you for stopping in to the channel this week. First, by way of an update, 'Pfeiffer's' keel-bone has - almost - completely closed up. Progress! Now to your question. I cannot say I've heard of clicker-training a raptor... Its an effective training tool when you're working with dogs, certainly, but outside of dog-training, I'm not personally aware-of, nor have I observed any reputable Master speak of using this approach. Even 'The Horse Whisperer', Monty Roberts, who was recently asked about using clicker training rejects the use of this approach for horses - and these are beings who are "wired for sound" from the outset. Horses are *highly* sensitized to determining the safety of their surroundings based on the information provided to them through their ears, (being they're on the "business end" of the food chain), so its unsurprising someone would think clicker-training them would be "the next big thing". Apparently not. My guess, Cory? The master you're referring to thinks he/she is clicker-training their Feathered-ones, but in reality, the falcon/hawk/owl is responding to the messaging this individual is offering - by way of communication they're unaware they're sending - with their gestures, their body, the turn of their head at a critical moment, etc. The reality is, birds-of-prey are "Visual thinkers". Naturally they _can_ hear, and their hearing plays an important role in their success as hunters (particularly when we're discussing owls), however its their ultra-acute eyesight on which they rely the most. As body-language communicators, raptors are intensely aware of the subtlest visual queues; Joey's video is an amazing "clinic" in this approach. It may _look_ - at first blush - like Joey isn't "doing anything", but watch closely; he uses his entire body, and the tiniest motion of a hand, to provoke a discussion with 'Pfeiffer'. In my view, clicker-training a bird-of-prey is the equivalent of food-training a ravenous university student learning to program video games. Sure - the university student is *_hungry_* , but are you, as the instructor, going to communicate everything that student needs to understand in order to program the next iteration of "Warcraft" by giving him pizza when he _happens_ to get a line of code right, or, are you going to teach him the _language_ of game-coding, then how to execute sequenced coding, and so on, and so forth, until he's writing code like he was born to it...? And then, maybe give him a pizza...? It deserves mentioning a damaged soul such as 'Pfeiffer' benefits tremendously in having the kind of communication he can relate to opened to him - especially when we know all he's ever known is a life of misery. To 'Pfeiffer', humans have - doubtless - been equated with stress, hunger and pain. He is desperate for us to speak to him in the manner Nature intended - through his eyes. The 'subtle-Art' takes skill, incredible attentiveness and patience. It _is_ the language raptors speak. ...And our predecessors figured this out over the last 8,000 years. We do not need to "reinvent" Falconry. We need to _remember_ the Art is founded on the reaching for "relationship". When it comes to birds-of-prey, this means humbling ourselves to learning their language, not imposing something clumsy as a substitute, and certainly not - in my view, a "language" to which they haven't evolved to compute in the first place. Thanks again for the discussion - I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts on this. Best, Jo

[@TheQuestingBeastSpotted]

@@TheFalconLady I've used "clicker training" for birds of prey, corvids, pigeons, parrots, chickens, mealworm beetles, and several species of lizard, turtle, snake, and even "clicker" trained fish, crayfish and shrimp using a penlight instead of a clicker. "Clicker" training is just a way of communicating antecedent-behaviour-consequence, like all operant learning. The clicker itself has no magic properties, it just marks a specific behaviour as "earning" a reward. It makes it easier for the learner to understand what they are earning the reward for, and helps avoid superstitious behaviour. Any marker can be used- "yes" "good" or cluck of the tongue- or a flash of light, or tap on the water or footing surface for vibration- can be a behaviour marker. A marker doesn't even have to be a good thing- it's no different than a dog learning that "No bad dog!" signals something bad is about to happen to them due to their current behaviour. It doesn't look like you use a lot of positive reinforcement in your methods, so you may find a behavior marker of limited use. I have experience working with severely traumatized birds (hoarding situations abuse, neglect etc). The technique I see used here, behavioral flooding, is of limited value in rebuilding decimated trust banks, especially with those animals showing ingrained trauma responses. In many cases methods like this can inadvertently cause additional emotional damage and stress as it continues the process of learned helplessness. Trauma cases are a long haul, and generally respond best to freedom of personal choice and freedom of movement and interaction, with incremental rewards for increased proximity, duration, and intensity. Rewards may be food, but are often just the absence of the person: the highly skilled application of approach-retreat methods are often effective in the initial stages until other reinforcers can be found. The best results I've had with traumatized birds, including BoPs, have been in free-lofted, protected contact scenarios, though they are challenging even then. Freedom of movement and choice to get away from the handler are important to rebuild any semblance of a trust account with humans after suffering abuse or neglect, and protected contact is important in the initial trust building stages to prevent lashing out or aggressive responses towards the trainer. It sounds like you have done the best you could with the knowledge and skills you have at your disposal; much like rehabilitating a traumatized dog isn't the wheelhouse of every dog trainer, rehabilitating a traumatized bird isn't the specialty of every falconer. I'm glad you were able to find this bird a safe place to go, and that you were able to recognize when something wasn't working for you and the bird, and take steps to rectify the situation.

[@surestar74]

Forgive my question, I have no bird of pray experience. With parrots and small birds people use target training to kind of let the bird know what you are asking for. Would that work with a raptor for step up?

[@TheFalconLady]

Good afternoon B Grover; Thank you for the insightful question. The process you describe for working with your Feathered-ones is entirely similar to what we do when we're establishing the lines of communication with a bird-of-prey. "Target training" (or "schooling") is usually what I do when I'm preparing one of my feathered-companions for a film or television performance of one stripe or another. Before you get to target-training with a raptor, you must first *_win_* them. "Win" their trust. "Win" their regard for you. 'Pfeiffer's' story is a sad one...I'd encourage you to watch all the episodes pertaining to his journey since he arrived to 'Falcon's Rest'. In brief, the individual we received 'Pfeiffer' from committed fraud by completely misrepresenting every single aspect of this little falcon's life, experience, physical condition, age - you name it, it was lied-about. 'Pfeiffer' was emotionally, psychologically and physically abused and neglected; his mind is - in effect - "broken". His understanding of what human beings represent is nothing short of "trauma", or "badness". As such, he is highly resistive to opening the door of communication between himself and all of us. We continue to work with him on a daily basis... Hope you've had a great weekend - please come back and see us again next Sunday. :0) Jo

[@surestar74]

@@TheFalconLady Ok, thank you! I think I see, this is the phase before you could do any target training, just being around him. This reminds me of how I've watched people "gentle" a mustang. I started following your channel after the video about putting a casting jacket popped up in my recommended. I then went back and watched all of Pfeiffer's videos. So interesting and sad (I'm not sure 'sad' is the right word to use when thinking how Pfeiffer's previous owner failed to provide proper care for him and essentially dumped him on you). Thank you again for taking the time to explain everything and documenting Pfeiffer's journey. I've enjoyed learning about Pfeiffer and about falconry in general.

[@TheFalconLady]

@@surestar74 Good afternoon B; Lovely to have this conversation with you too - I hope you'll come back and visit us each Sunday as we go forward. :0) Best, Jo